Have you ever heard of Rudolph Island? Its geographical location, description and history of the discovery are given in the article.
Location
In northern Europe, in the harsh Arctic Ocean, lies the island of Rudolph. It belongs to an archipelago called Franz Josef Land, is its extreme point in the north. It is part of the polar possessions of Russia, belongs to the Primorsky district of the Arkhangelsk region.
The geographic coordinates of Rudolph Island are as follows: 81 degrees 47 minutes north latitude and 58 degrees 39 minutes east longitude.
Description
Rudolph Island is small. Its area is only 297 km square. The highest point lies in the center and is 460 m above sea level. The climate here is arctic, with an average annual temperature of -12 ° C. The island has an unremarkable, desolate and dull landscape, almost all is covered with glacier. There are several nameless lakes on it, which are also covered with ice all year round.
Permafrost reigns here. It seems that in such conditions there can be neither animals nor vegetation. But this is not so. The flora of the island is represented mainly by mosses and lichens, and other plants are found - polar poppy, polar willow, saxifrage. The local owner is a polar bear, it is rare to meet Arctic foxes, seals, walruses and seals are found in coastal waters. In summer, bird bazaars form on the island.
There is no permanent population on this territory, as it is not suitable for life. There is not a single settlement or any building of economic importance. The people who live on the island are scientists, meteorologists and border guards. It operates the Rudolph polar station.
Discovery story
Rudolph Island was discovered in 1873 by the Austro-Hungarian polar expedition of J. Payer, when she explored the Franz Josef Archipelago. Named after the crown prince of Austria.
Initially, it was assumed that other islands lay to the north of this plot of land, but in 1900 an expedition led by captain Kanyi established that this was not so. Rudolph Island turned out to be the northernmost land of Russia and Europe, as well as the entire Eurasian continent.
Interesting Facts
The famous polar explorer G.Ya. was buried on this earth in 1914. Sedov, who passed away during the next expedition to the North Pole.
The ice that covers the island reaches a thickness of 500 meters!
The most extreme northern point of the land of the Russian Federation is Cape Fliegli on the island of Rudolph. There is a powerful wooden cross made of larch, it weighs 300 kg, installed in 2003.